The U.S. Embassy Manila issued a health alert Friday for US citizens living in or traveling to the Philippines due to a measles outbreak being reported throughout the country.

Image/kpgolfpro
Image/kpgolfpro

This follows a travel notice issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday.

According to Philippines health officials, in the current measles outbreak, data from the Epidemiology Bureau (EB) showed that there were 4,168 measles cases reported nationwide from January 01 to March 26, 2018. Out of the 4,168 reported cases, 723 were laboratory-confirmed measles with a total of 13 deaths. Most of the confirmed cases came from regions XI- Davao (27.73%), ARMM (21.59%), IX- Zamboanga Peninsula (14.32%), XII-SOCCSKSARGEN (10.45%), and X- Northern Mindanao (10%).

U.S. Embassy Manila recommends that U.S. citizens living in or traveling to the Philippines should make sure they are vaccinated against measles with the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine and to avoid contact with people who are sick.

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